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Many Singaporeans believe they do not have enough money for
retirement or to cope with the unexpected, results of the latest
Consumer Attitudes to Savings study show.
Half of 1,000 respondents to a survey commissioned by insurance
firm
Aviva for the study said
they are worried they will not have enough money for an adequate
standard of living when they retire.
Also, 44 percent of the respondents think they will have to work
beyond the normal retirement date to fund their retirement, Aviva
said in a press statement on Thursday about the survey results.
Moreover, only 32 percent feel they have enough savings to cope
with emergencies or other unexpected events.
"What we continue to see are concerns about long-term
(financial) positions,"
Simon Newman, chief executive officer
of Aviva Singapore, said in an interview on Thursday,
adding that such concerns stemmed from greater longevity and an
increasingly consumerist attitude of Singaporeans.
Nevertheless, while people were just as worried about their
financial future last year, more of them were taking steps to
address their problems this year, he noted.
"We know that about 40 percent of people are starting to take
greater planning on their finances, and that's up 8 percentage
points from the previous year," he said. "We've got about
two-thirds people saying they are looking to invest the same or
slightly more that's up 5 percentage points from the previous
year."
In the short-term, Singaporeans seem quite optimistic about
their financial future.
"Close to 90 percent of Singaporeans are saying in the
short-term they feel that their financial position is going to
improve or stay as is," Newman said.
The study, which spanned surveys in Aviva's 10 core markets in
Europe (UK, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Ireland), the U.S. and
Asia (China, India and Singapore), showed that, relative to the
global picture, respondents in the three Asian countries feel
significantly more confident about the next twelve months than
countries in the West.
Meanwhile, the results of the survey in Singapore also indicated
that investments are the preferred form of financial products for
Singaporeans in the next twelve months with 39 percent of
respondents finding favour with them followed by savings, which
were chosen by 27 percent of respondents.
Newman said there was also fast-growing interest in
mortgage-protection products and financial products that help
people cope with inflation.
